In a public letter last week, Apple refused a judge’s court order to help the FBI unlock an iPhone used by one of the attackers in the San Bernardino shootings that killed fourteen people. Information gleaned from the phone may help investigators better anticipate and prevent future violence. Meanwhile, Apple contends that such a move threatens the security and privacy of the estimated 90 million or more U.S. citizens who use an iPhone every day. This week, Apple filed a motion to dismiss the court order.
The legal battle may just be getting started between Apple and the FBI. Both seem to be advocating for the safety and security of their respective constituents. And weighing the risks and benefits for all those involved is neither simple nor clear. How does one compare the potential privacy concerns of Apple’s millions of users against terror threats that the FBI may be able to prevent? Do the slight risks of the many outweigh the severe risks of the few, or vice versa? Can such risks even be meaningfully evaluated or compared? With all these questions, the courts will have their hands full trying to resolve this case.
Regardless of which side prevails, the judges in this case have the thankless task of handing down a ruling that leaves people vulnerable no matter what. Impossible situations like this force us to acknowledge that our own security measures and those of our leaders cannot guarantee us safety. The prophet Isaiah warns us against putting our hope in digital passcodes or government agencies as our first line of defense.
In Isaiah’s day, his fellow Israelites were looking for protection from the aggressive forces of Assyria that were threatening to invade and conquer them. But rather than turning first to God for security, they sought out help from Egypt, whom they believed had superior defenses. For them, Isaiah had a severe warning:
Isaiah 31:4-5
Doom to those who go off to Egypt
thinking that horses can help them,
Impressed by military mathematics,
awed by sheer numbers of chariots and riders—
And to The Holy of Israel, not even a glance,
not so much as a prayer to God.
Still, he must be reckoned with,
a most wise God who knows what he’s doing.
He can call down catastrophe.
He’s a God who does what he says.
He intervenes in the work of those who do wrong,
stands up against interfering evildoers.
Egyptians are mortal, not God,
and their horses are flesh, not Spirit.
When God gives the signal, helpers and helped alike
will fall in a heap and share the same dirt grave.
This is what God told me:
“Like a lion, king of the beasts,
that gnaws and chews and worries its prey,
Not fazed in the least by a bunch of shepherds
who arrive to chase it off,
So God-of-the-Angel-Armies comes down
to fight on Mount Zion, to make war from its heights.
And like a huge eagle hovering in the sky,
God-of-the-Angel-Armies protects Jerusalem.
I’ll protect and rescue it.
Yes, I’ll hover and deliver.”